Physics (aristotle)
The physics is next to the metaphysics and the Nicomachean ethics one of the main works of Aristotle . It was created around 347 BC. Chr. And deals with the explanation and explanation ( definition ) of some basic terms that are used in the description of natural processes in daily life. The most important of these are: space , time , motion and cause . It is not a mathematical presentation of the main features of nature in today's sense.
Aristotle's method
According to Aristotle, many words initially designate "indefinitely a whole" (184 b). The breaking down of the term into its components means a knowledge, since it leads the term back to its basic building blocks (cf. Physics I, 1). When defining the terms in question, Aristotle always proceeds in the same way: He first considers a series of definitions proposed by his predecessors ( Plato and the pre-Socratics ). He shows that these cannot satisfy, as they bring a number of difficulties and problems ( aporias ) with them. Then he suggests his own definition. He proves that this avoids the difficulties, and that it still preserves the valuable intuitions that were contained in the previous attempts at definition. In Aristotle's own words:
- "One must try to carry out the investigation in such a way that the essentials of the term are reproduced, so that as a result, on the one hand, the (above) difficulties are solved, and on the other hand, it turns out that the provisions apparently due to it really belong to it, and moreover, that the cause of the difficulty and the demanding questions to be asked become clear. ”(211 a).
Central terms
change
Chapter I 7 is primarily concerned with the concept of change . The form (the sum of the properties) of the matter or the matter itself can change. In addition, Aristotle anticipates the doctrine of act-potency from metaphysics.
Move
Aristotle understands movement (ancient Greek: κίνησις kínēsis ) to be any kind of change. So he takes the term in a wider sense than is common today. Motion in this sense can be seen as the fundamental concept of physics . Chapters III 1–3, V 1–2 and Book VII deal with it. Aristotle defines movement as follows: “The finite coming to reality of something that is merely available according to possibility, insofar as it is such - that is movement "(201 a). According to Aristotle, every change must already be in the possibilities of the changing thing. If this system is implemented, then this is a change. Aristotle himself gives the following example: "If something that can be built, insofar as we state this property of it, comes to its finite realization, then it will just be built and this is then 'building'" (ibid.).
nature
According to Aristotle, everything is “natural” that “has in itself a beginning of change and persistence” (192 b). On the other hand, there are the manufactured things ( artifacts ) that are created and preserved by humans through art (τέχνη téchnē ), so that they do not have a “beginning in themselves”.
root cause
In Chapter II 3, Aristotle develops the famous four-cause scheme:
- Material cause (causa materialis) : “from which something arises as something already present” (194 b). What is meant is the substance of which an object is made, e.g. B. in the case of a silver statue the metal.
- Form cause (causa formalis) : The "form and the model" (ibid.) Of the object, in the case of the statue the shape of a horse.
- Effective cause (causa efficiens) : "where the initial impetus for change or persistence comes from" (ibid.). In the example of the statue, this would be the sculptor.
- Purpose cause (causa finalis) : “the goal, d. H. das Weswegen "(ibid.). The purpose of the statue is that it decorates the room.
According to today's parlance, we would actually only call the effective cause the cause. The four causes of Aristotle can be understood as four different explanatory models that answer why a certain thing exists in its certain peculiarity.
The doctrine of four causes can also be found in Aristotle's Metaphysics, in which, among other things, he unfolds his theory of science. (Metaphysics, Book A, Chapter 3, 983a)
coincidence
Physics II 4–9 deals with the definition of chance and coincidence . Aristotle's definition of chance reads: "If something happens in the realm of events that occur in the strict sense because of something and the cause of which lies outside of them, which cannot be brought into a therefore relationship with the result, then we call it ' coincidental '. "(197 b). His example is the following: A horse escapes a misfortune by getting out of the stable, but it did not get out because it wanted to avoid the misfortune (it knew nothing of the impending misfortune). In this case one would say: "The horse came out by chance". The cause here is coming out, the result is that it escapes misfortune, and there is no "because of that relationship" between the two (the horse did not come out to escape misfortune), so it is all random.
An interesting passage can be found in 198 b: Aristotle seems to ascribe a first theory of evolution to Empedocles many centuries before Charles Darwin , which contains the elements of mutation and selection (“[...] then these structures, which purely by chance were more suitable Wisely met. Where it did not happen, they went under [...] ”). However, this theory is rejected by Aristotle.
infinity
Chapters III 4–8 deal with this concept. Aristotle distinguishes between an infinity in relation to division ( division ) and to "addition" ( addition ). He explains the term as follows: “It turns out that 'unlimited' means the opposite of what is explained for it: not 'what has nothing outside of it', but 'for which there is always an outside' that is unlimited. "(207 a). With his definition, Aristotle turns against the idea of a so-called actual infinity , i.e. H. against the idea that something infinitely large exists that is present as a whole. According to him there are only so-called potential infinities , i.e. H. Quantities to which a further element can be added over and over again. However, these are never completely present.
Place or space
Aristotle does not deal with space in the modern sense, but rather discusses the place in IV 1–5 . His definition of the concept of place reads: "The immediate, immovable limit of the encompassing - that is place" (212 a). The idea is that the place has a body - e.g. B. a table - "immediately embraces", like a perfectly fitting glove around the hand. In contrast to the glove, however, the location is "immobile"; H. if the table is carried away, its place is not moved with it, but the table moves to another place.
Empty
Chapters IV 6–9 deal with the concept of emptiness. Aristotle argues here for the fact that there can be no emptiness (cf. Horror vacui ), whereby he describes as "empty" a place "where nothing is" (213 b). This argument was apparently refuted by Blaise Pascal in 1647 with the experiment Void in the Void . Modern physics partially favors Aristotle's view. From a quantum mechanical point of view, there are vacuum fluctuations everywhere .
time
Aristotle's remarks about the time can be found in IV 10-14. He defines time as “the number of movement in terms of 'before' and 'after'” (219 b), namely number in the sense of a divisible quantity . The idea behind this is that we quantitatively measure changes (e.g. the growth of a plant) using other changes. These second changes are uniform changes of location (today the movement of clock hands, earlier the apparent movement of the sun). In this respect we can make out a before and a after, this is then transferred to temporal processes.
It should be noted here that Aristotle regards the concept of change as fundamental and constructs the concept of time on the basis of certain changes, namely uniform changes in location. Conversely, according to modern understanding, the concept of time is fundamental and the concept of movement is derived from it.
continuity
In Chapter V 3 and in Book VI, Aristotle explains terms such as connected (things “whose edges form a unit”; 231 b), in contact (“whose edges are together”, ibid.), In sequence (“where nothing Finds similar things between them ”, ibid.) And other expressions belonging to this context. These definitions serve him to deal with atomism ( Democritus ) and atomistic ideas of the time. Aristotle rejects both theories. In this context he also deals with a refutation of the paradoxes of Zeno of Elea .
The motionless mover
In the last book of physics (Book VIII) and in the run-up to his theology (Book XII of Metaphysics) Aristotle argues for the necessity of an " immobile mover ", i.e. H. a force that causes all movement in the world. This theory later inspired Thomas Aquinas to his so-called cosmological proof of God .
literature
Major editions and translations of physics
- First printed in Latin translation Löwen approx. 1475
- Aristotle's Physics. A revised text with introduction and commentary by W. D. Ross. Oxford 1936, corrected 1956 (until today the standard edition of the original Greek text)
- Aristotle, physics lecture. Translated by Hans Wagner ( works in German translation, Volume 11). Akademie-Verlag, 5th edition 1995. ISBN 3-05-000927-6
- Aristotle, physics. Lecture on nature. Greek-German, edited by Hans Günter Zekl . Volume 1: Book I – IV. Meiner-Verlag, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 978-3-7873-0649-7 . Volume II: Book V – VIII. Meiner-Verlag, Hamburg 1988, ISBN 978-3-7873-0712-8
- Aristotle's Physics , Books I and II. Translated with Introduction and Notes by W. Charlton. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1970
- Aristotle's Physics , Books III and IV. Translated with Notes by Edward Hussey. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1983. ISBN 0-19-872068-8
- Aristotle's Physics , Book VIII. Translated with a Commentary by Daniel W. Graham . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1999. ISBN 0-19-824092-9
Literature on physics
- Wolfgang Wieland , The Aristotelian Physics. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1962; 2nd, revised edition, ibid. 1970
- Gustav Adolf Seeck : "Supplements" in the eighth book of "Physics" by Aristotle (= treatises of the humanities and social science class of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. Born 1965, No. 3).
- Ingrid Craemer-Ruegenberg, The natural philosophy of Aristotle. Alber, Freiburg / Munich 1980. ISBN 3-495-47439-0
- Sven Müller, Natural Local Movement. Aristotle's physics and their reception up to Newton. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2006. ISBN 978-3-16-149008-8 ( online )
Web links
- English translation of physics by RP Hardie and RK Gaye (1930)
- e-texts of Latin translations in the Corpus Córporum (ed. Ph. Roelli, Middle Latin seminar, University of Zurich)
- Physics, German translation by Christian Hermann Weisse, 1829 (at Zeno.org)
- Aristotle's physics and their reception up to Newton by Sven Müller (PhD thesis 2005)